It is quite common for a commercial excavator to dig a series of spaced holes for receiving a number of respective elongated objects, such as utility poles. The excavation of the holes may take place before the utility poles can be located into the holes and therefore the holes may be left in a condition to receive the poles for a day or more. Because this is not safe, the holes are usually covered over by any convenient cover such as a board or pallet and the public danger may be signaled by a warning pylon placed over the board.
An improvement over such an improvised safety cover is to provide a tubular insert sized to fit the diameter of the hole and to place the insert into the hole. A protective cap having an internal diameter which is sized to fit over the external diameter of the insert is used to seal off the hole. The insert has the advantage of retaining surrounding soil and dirt so that it does not collapse into the hole thereby preserving the hole so that it can receive a utility pole at a later time.
The insert is usually provided in lengths which are commensurate with the depth of the hole and may vary in lengths of several feet to ten feet or more. One problem which arises with such inserts is that they are preferably withdrawn from the surrounding hole in order to be reused at another job site. With deep holes, this becomes particularly difficult because the entire length of the insert must be withdrawn and if this is done after the utility pole has been installed, the tubular insert must be lifted the entire height of the utility pole as well. Another problem which arises is that the smooth tubular surface of the insert is difficult to grasp for removal. In addition, the diameter of such tubes must in some cases be quite large and storage for transportation takes up a lot of space.
An object of this invention is to provide a tubular insert for excavated holes which is easier to remove from an excavated hole and which is easier to transport to and from a job site.